Method and apparatus for efficient communication with implantable devices

ABSTRACT

Described herein are methods of making and using and apparatus for wirelessly communicating data and providing power, particularly from a location exterior to a body and to an implantable device disposed within a body with tissue. The described embodiments provide apparatus and methods for efficiently transfer data and power between an external transceiver and an (implanted) biomedical device. The method is to modulate power carrier, which wirelessly powers the device, using an asynchronous modulation scheme, such as amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation, with minimal modulation depth in order to not disrupt the power flow. The digital data is encoded in the pulse width, eliminating the need for synchronization to the power carrier signal and further minimizing the power consumption necessary for data transfer. Additionally, a reverse backscatter method for obtaining data from the implant is described that has flexible, low power operation.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/734,772, filed Jan. 4, 2013, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/582,980 filed Jan. 4, 2012,both of which are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.

FIELD OF THE ART

The embodiments described herein relate to methods of making and usingand apparatus for wirelessly communicating data and providing power,particularly from a location exterior to a body and to an implantabledevice disposed within a body with tissue.

BACKGROUND

Implantable devices are known. Most use a battery internally disposedwithin the device from which to obtain power. Such devices requiring abattery that cannot draw additional power, however, are bulky and assuch have limitations associated with them.

There are also known methods for wirelessly delivering power to animplantable device that have been proposed. One such discussion isprovided in the patent application entitled “Method of Making and Usingand Apparatus for a Locomotive Micro-Implant Using ActiveElectromagnetic Propulsion” filed as U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/485,654 on Jun. 16, 2009, which application is expressly incorporatedby reference herein, and priority claimed thereto.

There are also communication systems known to allow transmission of datafrom the exterior of a body into the implantable device, as well asallow transmission of data along the reverse link from the implantabledevice to the exterior of the body, which systems all have limitations.

SUMMARY

Described herein are methods of making and using and apparatus forwirelessly communicating data and providing power, particularly from alocation exterior to a body and to an implantable device disposed withina body with tissue.

The described embodiments provide apparatus and methods for efficientlytransfer data and power between an external transceiver and an(implanted) biomedical device. The method is to modulate power carrier,which wirelessly powers the device, using an asynchronous modulationscheme, such as amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation, with minimalmodulation depth in order to not disrupt the power flow. The digitaldata is encoded in the pulse width (PW), eliminating the need forsynchronization to the carrier signal and further minimizing the powerconsumption necessary for data transfer.

The combination of data and power in a single signal with ASK+PWmodulation for data transfer to biomedical implantable devices alsoallows for an adjustable data rate by changing integrator gain or timeconstant. Additionally, the methods and apparatus described provide alarge amount of flexibility for data transfer, and can operate under avariety of conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects and features will become apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art upon review of the following description ofspecific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with theaccompanying figures, wherein:

FIG. 1a illustrates a high level diagram of an external transmitteraccording to one embodiment;

FIG. 1b illustrates a high level diagram of an external transmitter thatincorporates a reader for the receiving data from the device

FIG. 2a illustrates a high level diagram of a receiver disposed withinthe implantable device according to one embodiment;

FIG. 2b illustrates a receiver disposed within the implantable devicewith an ID block for multi-access when several devices are used

FIG. 3a illustrates the usage of amplitude shift keying with informationencoded using pulse width modulation according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3b illustrates an embodiment of a high frequency ASK modulator withvariable modulation depth using a bipolar transistor

FIG. 4a illustrates an envelope detector and pulse detector according toone embodiment;

FIG. 4b illustrates a timing diagram showing operation of the envelopedetector and pulse detector shown in FIG. 4 a;

FIGS. 5(a)-(c) illustrate specific implementation of a receiver,resulting waveforms, and the general form of amplitude modulationequations and definition of modulation depth;

FIG. 6 illustrates the operation of the dynamic reference generator;

FIG. 7 illustrates one implementation of a multi-level decoding circuit;

FIG. 8. illustrates another implementation of a multi-level decodingcircuit;

FIG. 9 illustrates a sample high-level diagram of load modulation forthe reverse data link according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The available power is very limited in autonomous implantable devices.This imposes strict limits on power budget of the transceivercomponents. Decoding data without synchronizing to the carrier signalcould greatly reduce the power requirements of the transceivercomponents. Amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation in conjunction withpulse width (PW) modulation encoding can be decoded without carriersynchronization and allows for simple, yet efficient and robust way totransfer data to an implantable device by directly modulating thecarrier used to power the device. The demodulation of the data stream issimple and efficient compared to ASK or other modulation techniques thatrequire synchronization, primarily because synchronization circuitryusually consists of phase or delay lock-loops, which can be complex andconsume much power. By encoding the digital “0” and “1” bits withdifferent pulse width, the demodulator is able to discriminate bycomparing the transmitted energy in the bit. Furthermore, each bitcontains both a transition from high to low and low to high inamplitude, which allows for digital clock recovery without the need forsynchronization. This clock can be used to latch-in the received dataand drive digital circuitry on chip.

The key advantage of this modulation technique is the efficiency of thedata receiver and elimination of the need for synchronization circuitry.The power flow can also have minimum perturbations by choosing lowmodulation depth, as opposed to on-off keying (OOK) modulation. It has avery flexible data rate defined by the transmitter, and operatesrobustly as link gain and other environmental factors change, making itideal for biomedical systems.

High-level diagrams of the transmitter 100 and the receiving device 200are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively. The transmitter 100 operateswith a carrier generated at the desired frequency by the carriergenerator 110, which is then modulated with data using the modulator 120and the methods described herein, and is finally amplified by amplifier130 to the desired level before being transmitted via the transmit (Tx)antenna 140. The receiving device 200 shown in FIG. 2, preferablybatteryless (or synonymously referred to from hereon as passivedevices), collects the power required for operation from the carriersignal using power receiver 210, and it receives data encoded in theenvelope of the carrier using envelope detector 250 and pulse decoder260. This data can be used to directly control the functional elements220 or it can be stored in memory 270, for later use by the functionalelements 220. In the case of biomedical implants, the functionalcomponents of the implanted device can range from a drug delivery systemto diagnostic sensors, and these elements can, if desired, sendinformation back to the transmitter through the optional reverse link280, which is described in more detail in the following sections. Forthe optional reverse link, the external reader would need to be moresimilar to FIG. 1b , wherein demodulator is included for reverse datalink receiving. For other applications, these functional elements couldinclude RFID components or any other passive system that makes use ofwireless powering and data transfer. Other systems that utilize someform of energy storage could also utilize these methods of communicationor some a modified form of them.

At the transmitter 100, the carrier can be generated with any number oftechniques, and many conventional components can be used for mostfrequency ranges of interest. Amplitude shift keying with informationencoded using pulse width modulation also has many possibleimplementations, and one potential method is shown in FIG. 3a . Withthis implementation, the amplitude is modulated by switching in avariable impedance that creates mismatch, which reduces the amplitude ofthe transmitted signal. By adjusting this impedance, the resultingamplitude can be controlled. The width of the pulses is controlled bythe length of time that the impedance is switched on. At frequencies inthe GHz range, it can be challenging to precisely control the loadimpedance. A specific embodiment of this method is shown in FIG. 3b .The bipolar transistor in this circuit simultaneously acts as the switchand the adjustable impedance. The impedance is controlled by adjustingthe voltage at the collector of the BJT, the modulation signal is fed tothe base, and the emitter is tied to ground. This implementation allowsfor high-speed modulation of high frequency signals with a preciselycontrolled modulation depth. Following this modulator, the signal isamplified to desired power level for the intended application. Adiscussion of choice of carrier frequency and power levels for differentranges and devices is given in later sections.

On the preferably passive device, the incoming signal is passed to apower receiver, which creates a stable power supply for the device. Inone embodiment, this power received consists of rectification, referencegeneration, and regulation circuitry, all of which have manyimplementations. The envelope of the incoming signal is also recoveredand passed to a pulse detector which decodes the data.

An implementation of the envelope detector 250 and pulse detector 260 isshown in FIG. 4a , with a timing diagram showing operation in FIG. 4b .In this method, the envelope is recovered with rectification circuitryand converted to a digital signal. This digital signal is thenintegrated, and the integrated result is compared to a threshold. Forlong pulses, the integrated result will cross the threshold, and forshort pulses the integrated result will not cross the threshold. In thisway, the data is recovered and can be stored in some form of memory ifnecessary or processed as need may be.

With specific reference to FIG. 4b , the envelope and its average, arefed to the comparator which also acts as an amplifier that outputsfull-swing digital levels. First comparator output is buffered toproduce CLK signal for the rest of the circuitry. Since data is encodedin pulse duration, first comparator output is integrated and long pulsedurations cause integrator output to cross the fixed threshold and thesecond comparator outputs a digital “1”. Short pulses do not provideenough time for integrator to cross the threshold and thus results in adigital “0”, as can be seen in the diagram. The data can be latched bythe falling edge of the clock.

This method can operate with minimal modulation depth if the thresholdis set as an average of the envelope. This modulation depth can bearbitrarily low as long as the envelope can be extracted, and thepreferred-reduction of the transmitted envelope is in the range of15-20% during periods when forward link data is being transmitted. Sincethe periods during which forward link data is being transmitted willvary depending on application, in many instances the overall power losswill be minimal. With this averaging circuit, which in one embodiment isan RC low pass filter attached to an envelope detector, the detectorcould operate at arbitrary modulation depths. Also, the full-swingamplifier in FIG. 4 could be removed, but there would be additionalconstraints on the maximum and minimum envelope amplitudes, digitallogic thresholds, and supply voltage. Alternatively, the RF envelopecould be amplified by low noise amplifier (LNA), implementation of whichshould be known to one familiar with this art, to increase thesensitivity prior to integration and clock recovery.

With respect to this specific implementation, an envelope detector 410is directly connected to a receiving antenna, not shown, and theimpedance matching network, which could be optional, (shown in FIG. 5below). In addition to extracting the envelope of the radio frequency(RF) carrier, the envelope detector 410 may also detect the averagevalue with a dynamic reference generator as shown in FIG. 6. In thisembodiment of FIG. 6, the envelope signal and reference signal aregenerated with RC filters of different time constants. This particularenvelope detector has a faster time constant to track variations in theRF amplitude, and the dynamic reference has a slower time constant toaverage the envelope.

The same RF carrier signal is passed to the power receiver 210 shown inFIG. 1 and the envelope detector 410 shown in FIG. 4, and theyessentially operate independently. However, the matching network at thereceive antenna has to be designed for the total load impedance, towhich both of these systems contribute. For most practical applications,this impedance is dominated by the power receiver 210 shown in FIG. 1,and so very little power is wasted on envelope detector 410 shown inFIG. 4, though it is important to consider this in the design andminimize wasted power.

The envelope is compared to its average and the resulting waveform isamplified, using a full-swing amplifier 420, to a full-swing digitalsignal. The transitions (zero-crossings) of the envelope with itsaverage are the basis for the obtained clock that will be used to latchthe data in. The resulting waveform is fed to a resettable integrator430. The integrator 430 starts integrating when the envelope rises aboveits average and stops integrating when the envelope falls below theaverage. The output of the integrator 430 is fed to a comparator 440which compares the integrated value to a reference voltage. The durationof integration determines whether a logical “0” or “1” will be received.Longer pulses will result in an output of logical “1” whereas shorterpulses will be interpreted as logical “0”. A more detailedimplementation of a receiver is shown in FIG. 5(a) and (b) and resultingwaveforms are shown in FIG. 5(c). Additionally, FIG. 5(c) shows generalform of amplitude modulation equations and definition of modulationdepth.

The modulation depth can be chosen arbitrarily low and can be as high as100%, as in the case of on-off keying (OOK). The pulse width encodingcan also be an arbitrarily long duration for logical “1” and shortduration for logical “0” or vice versa. Also, the actual duration ofhigh and low amplitudes is arbitrary and sets the data rate of the datatransmission. The receiver can accommodate different data rates chosenby configuring its integration time constants (integrator gain) and thusby changing the slope of the integrated waveform, or by changing thethreshold voltage to the following comparator. Thus, the data rate canbe made variable and adjustable depending on the required application,and the implantable device can accommodate such different data rates. Ina preferred embodiment, the implantable device has several different RCtime constants from which one can be selected and/or changed, therebyallowing modification after the implantable device is in the body. Thisselection can be made by appropriately programming a controller withinthe functional elements of the device block 220 shown in FIG. 2, whenappropriate data is received, to make the change to the time constant.The controller switches in or out additional capacitive loading for theintegrator, which is implemented using a skewed inverter, therebychanging the time constant or gain of the integrator. To ensure correctdata rate after power on reset (POR) of the controller, the default datarate is selected, which is known by the external transmitter. Thederived clock can also be either constant period by adjusting the dutycycle of the PW modulated data or non-constant period by modulating onlythe high or low RF amplitude and not keeping the total pulse widthconstant. The receiver circuitry, including the envelope detector andits averaging circuitry, the comparators and integrator can beimplemented in many different ways.

With respect to the forward data link created by the transmitter 100shown in FIG. 1 and received at the receiving device 200, othermodifications can also be advantageous.

Firstly, multi-level encoding, which allows for the transfer of bits orsymbols representing multiple bits of information, can be provided.Symbols can be encoded in pulse durations, pulse amplitude, pulsetimings, or any combination of these. In one embodiment, instead ofencoding digital “0” and “1” into pulse width duration followed bynegative transition, digital “0” and digital “1” can be encoded intonegative and positive envelope transitions of equal pulse duration. Thisallows for constant period clock transmission and thus training of a PLLif one is required for an on-chip clock without use of preamble (whichclock is being used to control and/or synchronize with circuits andsignals other than the asynchronous data that is decoded from the RFcarrier signal. With this multi-level encoding, each bit has equalduration resulting in a constant data rate. Pulses for each bit can bearbitrarily short and both “0” and “1” takes equal amount of time totransmit, and this eases decoding because the dynamic reference settingbecomes a simple averaging of the envelope and thus simplifies thresholddetection. An additional advantage is that average envelope becomesconstant for equal probability of “0”'s and “1”'s transmitted and thusaverage power transferred is also constant, making it easier to estimatehow much power is being transmitted for SAR or other regulationscompliance

A specific implementation of a multi-level decoding circuit isillustrated in FIG. 7. RC filter can be used to average the envelope andobtain reference voltage V_(refm). A resistive divider can then be usedto shift the reference voltage down compared to original signal andobtain V_(reflow). Furthermore, another resistive divider can be used toshift down the envelope waveform and obtain V_(envlow). These signalscan then be used to recover clock and data as described earlier.

Another implementation of a multi-level decoding circuit is illustratedin FIG. 8. Another way to generate necessary voltages from the envelopeV_(env) is to use RC low pass filter again to obtain average of theenvelope V_(ref). Further, two resistors can be tied in series to ahigher potential than V_(ref), such as supply voltage V_(dd) and outputtaken from the middle of the two as shown in figure to obtain V_(ref+d)voltage Similarly, in order to obtain V_(ref−d) voltage, two resistorsin series can be tied to a lower potential than V_(ref), such as chipground and output can be taken from the middle to obtain V_(ref−d)voltage, as can be seen in figure. These signals can then be used torecover clock and data as per earlier description and as can be seen inthe figures.

Another embodiment uses frequency modulation rather than amplitude phaseshift keying. In this embodiment frequency shifting can be used, whichadvantageously does not perturb the amplitude of the RF carrier signal,but which does require additional matching and/or filtering circuitryand the like in order to decode the frequency encoded data signal, whichcircuitry can be complex and consume substantial power. For frequencymodulation on the transmitter side, two frequency generators whichrepresent different bits can be switched in and out as power carriers.On the demodulator side, a filter that is selective of only one of thetransmitted frequencies can be employed to recover either the presenceor lack of carrier and thus decoding either a digital “1” or a “0”.

Configurability of the previously described embodiments of the forwarddata link is a significant benefit achieved by the embodimentsdescribed. Some aspects that are configurable include the carrierfrequency, the modulation depth and frequency, the pulse width, thepulse amplitude, and the pulse timing. Adjusting these parameters allowsfor variable data rates and operation with lower or higher availablepower as dictated by the environment and application. Another parameterthat can either be fixed or adjustable is device identification (ID)number for individual addressability, similar to device shown in FIG. 2b, wherein the device includes some form of ID block for multi-access foraccommodation of multiple devices. In one embodiment, the ID can beimplemented using re-writable non-volatile memory. In a differentembodiment, the ID can be programmed using wirebonding or flip-chipconfiguration by utilizing different connection of ID inputs to eithersupply voltage (VDD) or ground.

The reverse data link 280 from the implantable device to the externalreader, if used, can be implemented in many different ways ranging fromcomplex and power intensive methods to simple and low-power solutions. Abrute force solution would be a dedicated transmitter with a localoscillator that transmits data to the external reader. This approachallows for full-duplex communication at the cost of high complexity andpower consumption. A lower power, more simple solution uses loadmodulation, which is modulation of the load impedance as seen by theantenna. Modulating this load reflects energy that can be detected bythe transmit antenna or by a different receive antenna or multipleantennas disposed exterior to the body. For power-limited devices, loadand backscatter modulation for the reverse link are more practicalsolutions. The load can be modulated by changing either the resistivity,reactivity, or some combination of the two. Depending on how the load isvaried and the link transfer function between the antennas, the phaseand/or amplitude of the carrier will be modulated. In particular withrespect to modulation of the load, as shown in FIG. 2, the reverse datatransfer block 280 may include a reverse link modulator and pulsegenerator, which preferably receives an encoded reverse link data streamand an internal clock of the implantable device. The reverse linkmodulator and pulse generator will cause variations to the load on theantenna while the RF carrier is being received without any forward linkdata encoded thereon. These load variations can be used to provide loadshift keying backscattered modulation of the RF carrier. Depending onthe particular application, how the load is modulated can be varied independence thereon, including prior to any device being used, or evenafter a device is in use. Once a device is in use, modification can bemade in a similar manner to that described previously with respect tomodification of the RC time constant for an implantable devicepreviously. In one embodiment, the preferred load can be selected usinga multiplexor implemented using passgates and the modulation of the loadthat is seen by the antenna can be done using another passgate that isconnected between selected load and antenna. In one embodiment with aparticular antenna, implanted devices generally performed best withcapacitive loading, while devices in air generally performed better withinductive loading. Therefore, the possibility of having multipledifferent loads, either on-chip or off-chip, for load modulation can bebeneficial for accommodation of different tissue conditions (due todifferent permittivity), different antennas, different encapsulations,or overall for varying environmental conditions. These different loadscan also be selected to trade off between reflected power (whichperturbs power delivery to the implant), and data signal quality whichis transmitted to the external reader to ensure its readability. Onesuch case could be to compensate for motion artifacts while a person isbreathing and separation between implantable device and external antennais changing. Also, these different loads can be used for multi-levelencoding because on the external receiver side different loads wouldcorrespond to different pulses due to variation of amplitude and phaseby different loads.

A sample high-level diagram of load modulation for the reverse data linkis shown in FIG. 9. In the figure, variable load impedance is switchedon and off by the data stream on the device and produces differentantenna termination for the different bits. In connection with thevariable load impedance, it is advantageous to include within thereverse link data stream a preamble that the external receiver can useto allow the external receiver to decode the reverse link data stream,which, similar to the forward link, is preferably transmittedasynchronously. It is generally not optimal, however, to reflect largeamounts of energy back to the external reader because it interferes withthe power delivered to the device, and so in certain applications phasemodulation may be advantageous, as was described in the paragraph above.Additionally, load modulation can be easily combined withcontinuous-time sensing and processing that was recently described bySchell and Tsividis in “A Continuous-Time ADC/DSP/DAC System With NoClock and With Activity-Dependent Power Dissipation,” Solid-StateCircuits, IEEE Journal of, vol. 43, no. 11, pp. 2472-2481, Nov. 2008.They demonstrated a system that converts an analog waveform into adigital representation without a constant sampling interval. Not onlydoes this eliminate the need for clock generation, but it also savespower because it does not need to sample the input signal when there isno activity. This is perfectly suitable for biological waveforms as theytend to have long periods of little or no activity. The modulatorcontrolled by the event-driven sampling only transmits data duringphysiological activity and will save energy during idle periods. Sincethe forward link is asynchronous and does not require a clock, theevent-driven sampling with load modulation is well-suited for thereverse data link as it also does not require a clock.

The range of communication with the device depends on the carrierfrequency, the transmitted power, and the intended application of thedevice. These ranges typically vary from a millimeter to a meter, thougha preferred set of ranges is carrier wavelength/100 to carrierwavelength*100. For biomedical implants, there are safety considerationswith transmitting RF power into the body, and these requirements areassociated with the amount of energy absorbed by the tissue. Thisabsorption varies with frequency, and so the frequency must be carefullychosen to suit the application. Lower frequencies tend to have greaterpenetration through the body with less absorption, but also tend to beinefficient as implantable devices become very small due to antennainefficiencies. High frequencies are absorbed more strongly by thetissue, but for small implants they are necessary because both thereceive antennas are smaller and power transfer efficiency is higher.Different applications will also have different power requirements, andso the carrier must be chosen to accommodate the power budget for theintended purpose, which specifically include transcutaneous powering anddata transfer for implantable biomedical devices body area network(BAN). For other passive devices that are not intended to be implantedsuch as near field communications (NFC) and radio frequencyidentification (RFID) tags, there is different set of considerations andlimitations. The frequency and power levels can be chosen to becompatible with existing standards and regulations. Also, differentprivacy measures and encoding schemes can be implemented with theexisting data link to make the link more robust and secure. However, themodulation and data transfer method described can operate over a widerange of frequencies and power levels, and so it should be able torobustly accommodate the different needs of these types of devices.

The preferred embodiment operates at 2 GHz (typical for smallimplantable devices), and RFID frequencies tend to be near 900 MHz.However, modulation at the impedance at any frequency, and recovery isstraightforward, and as such, the present embodiments can operate fromthe kHz range to the mid-GHz range, and this choice would be made basedon the application. It is noted, however, that there is a limitation atthe rectifier by the switching speed of the transistors, but this isinherent to the technology. Also, the carrier frequency should be higherthan the modulation frequency in order to properly receive data. Thissets the lower bound for the carrier frequency if the applicationrequires certain data rate. Alternatively, lower carrier frequencieslimit the maximum data rate if the application requires a certaincarrier frequency.

The typical lengths/powers are also set by the specific application, andthis data transmission method could be applied for these applicationswith minimal impact on power transfer. Implantable devices tend to beshorter range because the tissue absorbs so much power, while RFIDsystems can be longer range because they transmit through air. The exactchoice of frequency depends on many things and influences the size ofthe device, distance (depending on transmission medium), and theresulting efficiency of the transfer. It also must comply with theregulations associated with the frequency band, which can force devicesto operate in certain ranges. These can be determined based upon theteachings described herein.

In a specific configuration that uses as the functional device elements220 illustrated in FIG. 2 a controller to receive the forward link data,auxiliary circuits controlled by the controller, and also a PLL thatprovides a clock used by the controller and other auxiliary circuits,and in which the controller can also optionally configure the reverselink data stream, the forward link data provided can preferably includeboth clock data and other circuit data. In this configuration, trainingthe PLL can occur using the clock data that is transmitted, and othercircuit data can then be provided for use by the controller, whichcontroller is then more functional given the PLL having been trained.Training of the PLL can be done once or periodically as the deliveredpower to the implant, aging of the device, drift, and other conditionscan cause the on-chip clock to deviate from its trained clock period.Therefore, each forward data stream can be potentially used to retrainthe PLL if there may be a need for this. This also allows for theimplantable device not to have a crystal oscillator or any other sort ofprecision clock generation which can be expensive, power hungry, orbulky. The external transceiver can have these components due to fewerrestrictions on power budget, size, weight, and price.

In use, the implantable device can be packaged with epoxies, plastics,or other materials that cover the receive antenna and isolate circuitryboth physically and electrically, though it should be transparent at thefrequency of operation for the best performance. These epoxies arereadily available and there are even bio-compatible versions. Whilethere will be some minimal loss through this material, for mostapplications it is insignificant, especially when transmitting throughtissue.

Although the embodiments have been particularly described with referenceto embodiments thereof, it should be readily apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art that various changes, modifications andsubstitutes are intended within the form and details thereof, withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope intended. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that in numerous instances some features will be employedwithout a corresponding use of other features. Further, those skilled inthe art will understand that variations can be made in the number andarrangement of components illustrated in the above figures.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for wireless transmission of data andpower to an implantable device disposed within a body that causesvarying transmission characteristics, the method comprising the step of:providing, from a forward link transmitter exterior of the body, asingle power and data signal, the single power and data signal includinga RF carrier and data encoded on the RF carrier; directing the singlepower and data signal toward the implantable device disposed within thebody; receiving, at the implantable device or devices, the single powerand data signal; and processing within the implantable device or devicesthe received single power and data signal, the processing including:collecting power required for operation of the implantable device fromthe RF carrier of the single power and data signal; and decoding thedata encoded on the RF carrier, wherein the decoding occurs withoutsynchronizing to the RF carrier.
 2. The method according to claim 1wherein: the step of collecting power required for operation uses arectifier; and the step of decoding uses a decoder to asynchronouslydecode the data encoded on the RF carrier.
 3. The method according toclaim 1 wherein the implantable devices are individually addressable. 4.The method according to claim 2 wherein the step of decoding uses adetected envelope of the RF carrier to asynchronously decode the dataencoded on the RF carrier.
 5. The method according to claim 4 whereinthe data encoded on the RF carrier is encoded during the step ofproviding using amplitude shift keying modulation, with the data beingencoded in a pulse width, amplitude, and/or timing.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 5 wherein the data encoded on the RF carrier is alsoencoded with minimal modulation depth.
 7. The method according to claim5 wherein the data encoded on the RF carrier is encoded as either adigital “0” or a digital “1”.
 8. The method according to claim 5 whereinthe amplitude shift keying modulation includes multi-level encoding. 9.The method according to claim 2 wherein the data encoded on the RFcarrier is encoded as a symbol.
 10. The method according to claim 1wherein the data encoded on the RF carrier provided in the step ofproviding includes clock data and other circuit data, wherein theimplantable device further includes a controller that received the othercircuit data and a PLL coupled to the controller, and further includingthe steps of: training the PLL using the clock data; and using the othercircuit data in the controller.
 11. The method according to claim 1wherein the step of decoding uses a dynamically generated referencelevel.
 12. The method according to claim 10 wherein adjustable referencelevel is adjusted continuously or periodically.
 13. The method accordingto claim 2 wherein the data encoded on the RF carrier is encoded duringthe step of providing using frequency modulation.
 14. The methodaccording to claim 13 wherein the decoding of the encoded data usesselective filtering of the transmitted frequencies.
 15. The methodaccording to claim 5 wherein the step of providing changes the pulsewidth, amplitude, and/or timing to accommodate a configuration of thedecoder.
 16. The method according to claim 5 wherein the step ofproviding changes a data rate to accommodate a configuration of thedecoder.
 17. The method according to claim 5 wherein the step ofproviding reduces a data rate in response to the step of collectingobtaining less power over a period of time.
 18. The method according toclaim 5 wherein the step of providing changes a data rate to accommodatethe intended purpose of the device or devices.
 19. The method accordingto claim 1, further including the step of: providing, from a reverselink transmitter within the implantable device, a single reverse linkdata signal, encoding the single reverse link data signal by adjusting aload on an antenna that receives the RF carrier, thereby causing areflected RF carrier that has the reverse link data encoded thereon; anddecoding the reflected RF carrier at a location exterior of the body toasynchronously receive and reconstruct the single reverse link datasignal.
 20. The method according to claim 19 wherein the device ordevices configure the reflected signal pulse width, amplitude, and/ortiming to accommodate its purpose.
 21. The method according to claim 19wherein the device or devices configure a data rate to accommodate theirintended purpose.
 22. The method according to claim 1 wherein, duringthe step of directing, a distance between a forward link transmitter andthe implantable device is in the range of carrier wavelength/100 tocarrier wavelength*100.